1. I think the big pics on the front page actually make me wanna click them more than a simple description of the movie, maybe it's because I'm more visual. Also, I'm glad you are planning to make the author's name visible on each submission, I was gonna PM you about that, but I guess that wouldn't be necessary. :)

2. I had never searched for anything here in NG, the only things I click are front paged stuff and stuff that wins Weekly and Monthly stuff, STUFF!

3. I haven't clicked that star before but now that I know...WOW! That's awesome, IMO, the best feature of the redesign! I never check my emails, so now it's easier for me to know what all my heroes are doing. Also, this feature is really useful when one of your fav. authors post news that aren't posted in front page.

4. You know, all I do is check the front-page, that's what NG is all about IMO, Front-Page! You put it on there and I'll click the hell out of it. That's the part you guys need to concentrate the most.

At 1 hour ago, Vorlek wrote:
The flash 'splash pages' for each game are a step way way way back imo. Its like going back to the old design when i signed up (2005) which was quite cool 7 years ago... but Flash is really not needed for a button just loads the flash...

You can toggle these under your display options on your account page. We're removing the sounds though.

Is there a "Sound On" toggle for those of us that don't mind the occasional silly noise? ;P

I think the call to action issue you're encountering here is a matter of stimulation overload. You've said it yourself: the new design is pretty, but it's a lot to take in.

To begin with, the entire front page is filled with different types of Featured Content, but other than the separate media everything probably blends together in the eyes of an average user.

The Content Showcase, Featured Content, Promoted Games, Best New Games and Movies, and P-Bot's Picks all serve a similar functions: suggested viewing. They are scattered above and below the fold; there is a lot of friction of navigation.

As for the content showcase specifically, it takes time to load and just isn't worth waiting for when everything else on the page performs a similar action.

2) Have you explored the content genre browsing? ...

I've definitely used the content genre browser, but it still lacks a level specificity. Old games and movies that don't have exceptionally high scores still seem to be lost in the pile.

One answer to this may be a crowd-sourced tagging system moderated by users like the comments sections are. A system like that is asking for abuse, but it might help unearth some old gems.

... The showcase would continue with "Best New Adventure Games", etc. I'm thinking it would better highlight the genre categories and might give people more direct access to stuff they like.

Sounds awesome!

3) Have you been making use of the feed button (the star next to logout) in the header? It lists new submissions by artists you have favorited, something that was only available via email in the past. We intend to merge all favorites into one list of people you follow, so that you can easily add them from their user page and not have to add them in the context of a piece of content. Our current system (where you favorite artists based on content categories) is really old and has some charm but it feels like overkill nowadays.

I rarely even notice the feed button, and it's a tertiary action at best so it takes a lot of effort to use when I can just see what looks interesting on the front page.

4) Have you found yourself doing anything more or less as a result of the new layout?

I still use Newgrounds the way I always have: check the front page for new stuff. If there's no new stuff, leave the site.

In Conclusion

Newgrounds is still as easy to get around as it always was (with some added benefits now). I think the new graphic design is really cool looking and I think you all did an awesome job.

I'm just a stickler for frictionless usability. Please take my words with as much salt as you can and keep on doin' how you do.

At 1 day ago, TomFulp wrote:
There are a few things I'm curious about:
4) Have you found yourself doing anything more or less as a result of the new layout?

There have been more threads and new people popping in the different fora, which is great.

But this is going at the cost of people looking at new art. I guess it used to be more inviting, now it's all crammed together and good luck getting a review from someone. It already was an achievement to get one before, but right now it's simply impossible for them to get motivated and share a word.

A rather disgusting-looking git that should have been disposed of ages ago.

At 1 day ago, TomFulp wrote:
1) Do you find yourself ignoring the big content showcase box here on the front page? I've been told it doesn't make enough of a "call to action" and while looking pretty, people aren't being as enticed to click it as they should be.

I do click through it, though I think that just because I "Trained" to expect content there. :P

2) Have you explored the content genre browsing? I feel like this is a really powerful system that a lot of people are overlooking; some have even complained that we removed genres. Go to the games page and scan the categories in the left column. Click around and start exploring. The categories get really in-depth and you can sort by all sorts of criteria. Right now we default to sort by date, which was an attempt to put the spotlight on new submissions but may have been a mistake. Instead we should probably default to sorting by score but maybe set the range to "Year" instead of "All" so there's more movement in the space.

Yep. Love it. ;P

This also makes me wonder if the games front page should be different. Right now we showcase the latest games, popular games from this week, highest scoring games of the month, highest scoring of the year and highest scoring of all time. Popular games tend to just mirror the front page. Best games of all time feels pretty static (instead maybe it could have a random selection from the top 200). But instead of all of that, I'm wondering if we should return to something like the old site, where we have a per-genre showcase. For example, the first box under "Brand Spankin' New Games" could be "Best New Action Games" and list the latest four action games with scores greater than 3.3 (number is based on some personal observations but not set in stone). The showcase would continue with "Best New Adventure Games", etc. I'm thinking it would better highlight the genre categories and might give people more direct access to stuff they like.

I like this, as long as the "Best of X Period" page still exists, possibly as an "Other Pages" or sommat. It's a nice visual reference (And introduction to games you may otherwise have never tried). I know you can filter these categories, but really, just to see the "Best of X Period" games, I wouldn't likely sit there changing the filter over and over comparing titles.

3) Have you been making use of the feed button (the star next to logout) in the header? It lists new submissions by artists you have favorited, something that was only available via email in the past. We intend to merge all favorites into one list of people you follow, so that you can easily add them from their user page and not have to add them in the context of a piece of content. Our current system (where you favorite artists based on content categories) is really old and has some charm but it feels like overkill nowadays.

Nope. But then again, I am not prone to following people. I enjoy coming and sampling an ever changing sea of different content.

4) Have you found yourself doing anything more or less as a result of the new layout?

I'm using the Forums more, but mainly to give feedback on the new and changing site. I've been coming to Newgrounds for a "Couple" years (Created an Account when medals were introduced? I think?) and I love the direction this site has been going. ;P

At 1 day ago, TomFulp wrote:
1) Do you find yourself ignoring the big content showcase box here on the front page? I've been told it doesn't make enough of a "call to action" and while looking pretty, people aren't being as enticed to click it as they should be.

I personally go to this box first and try some of the games. Then I'll move deeper into the site. I love the box personally, though I question sometimes why a particular game is there.

2) Have you explored the content genre browsing? I feel like this is a really powerful system that a lot of people are overlooking; some have even complained that we removed genres. Go to the games page and scan the categories in the left column. Click around and start exploring. The categories get really in-depth and you can sort by all sorts of criteria. Right now we default to sort by date, which was an attempt to put the spotlight on new submissions but may have been a mistake. Instead we should probably default to sorting by score but maybe set the range to "Year" instead of "All" so there's more movement in the space.

I have not done this yet, but at your suggestion will take a look at it.

3) Have you been making use of the feed button (the star next to logout) in the header? It lists new submissions by artists you have favorited, something that was only available via email in the past. We intend to merge all favorites into one list of people you follow, so that you can easily add them from their user page and not have to add them in the context of a piece of content. Our current system (where you favorite artists based on content categories) is really old and has some charm but it feels like overkill nowadays.

No, I never really noticed it honestly...

4) Have you found yourself doing anything more or less as a result of the new layout?

i've been poking around a bit more exploring the layout, so I'd say more.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

Later today we'll see the arrival of the latest Cuboy adventure.

Check back tomorrow for the launch of a mesmerizing new featured game from SpikeVallentine!

At A few seconds ago, Coop wrote:
Very interesting, but I want to know if there's a way that you can disable certain users for it? I've just seen it spammed to fuck by TheShadling, who does far too much cock in his art for my liking

Right now the only option would be to remove them from your favorites. :(

At 1 day ago, TomFulp wrote:
4) Have you found yourself doing anything more or less as a result of the new layout?

Yes, less of everything.
I'm now only logging in to check my PM's and ignoring the rest of the site.
You guys really need to learn to practice moderation in design, I feel like I'm looking at an aerial map of a carnival.

At 20 hours ago, liljim wrote:
You see the little + and - buttons? Click those to expand/collapse the categories, not their titles.

That certainly helps, but say if I clicked through all the sub nav items of "Gadgets", that still refreshes the entire page. It's not really that big of a deal to be honest, I just thought it'd be nice if the content box on the right would automatically update on click of a genre.

At 16 seconds ago, deckheadtottie wrote:
That certainly helps, but say if I clicked through all the sub nav items of "Gadgets", that still refreshes the entire page. It's not really that big of a deal to be honest, I just thought it'd be nice if the content box on the right would automatically update on click of a genre.

I think that it'd be very convenient to show us whether P-Bot's runner-ups are games or movies. I mostly play games on here and watch the occasional movie, and I have no way of knowing which is which with the runner-up selection.

At 1 hour ago, Halvgoeden wrote:
The Content Showcase, Featured Content, Promoted Games, Best New Games and Movies, and P-Bot's Picks all serve a similar functions: suggested viewing. They are scattered above and below the fold; there is a lot of friction of navigation.

This in particular is one of my big goals for the front page - I want to get the content out of the left column. Once we split daily awards for games and movies, I want each to have a row with the top four in the main space.

I would like to bring the artist news further up in the left column so that it gets a lot more attention. At the same time, I want to be stricter about use of the space - I know it's a good way to promote your OTHER sites (facebook, youtube, soundcloud) but users will stop clicking that space if it's just plugs and it's disheartening for me to see the space used for plugs when you could be talking about all the cool stuff you're MAKING or RELEASING. As we get Alphas back up and running that will become even more apparent.

Im one of those people who opens tabs a lot, i open all the new things under judgement and look though them one at a time but i cant do that anymore due to the Horribly annoying sound of the changing language thing :/ wish it could be disabled

Also if you're not already I would highly recommend taking advantage of google analytics events. It would help you A/B test and figure out how people are using the site rather than just have to anecdotally ask a handful of people. I would imagine the participating community of newgrounds does not really accurately represent all of your sites visitors. But thats just me! I like basing decisions off real numbers. :)

1) Do you find yourself ignoring the big content showcase box here on the front page? I've been told it doesn't make enough of a "call to action" and while looking pretty, people aren't being as enticed to click it as they should be.

Yeah, to be honest, it kind off wants me to ignore it as well. There are several reasons for it, which I will mention now:
1 - The thumbnails are excessively big.
2 - The space between them is too short. ( makes the site look like a cluttered room )
3 - There are no short descriptions, so you have no idea, what are you going to watch, untill you watch it.

My solution: On the bottom, where is "Featured Contect" ...how should I say, I click every one of them as soon I first saw it. If the showcase box would look just like the featured contect box, the view result would be bigger than ever. Why? The thumbnail picture is slightly smaller than the showcase box ( the size I love the most. ) , it has description ( that's great! ), enough seperatured space between them ( that's awesome!! ) and even score rating and view count ( that's uberly awesome!!! )

But if would they do it my way, you'll probably have to scroll down more than before, which can get annoying, so I would add the "hide" button at the every showcase box, which shrinks the showcase box into a line where it would only sad: "Games" as well to same as "Movies" and you won't have to scroll down that much after all.

It's all up to you, Tom, either way I'm okay with the new redesign. Btw, I love the contect genre browsing, makes the site look more regulated :D ( Sorry if I done any grammar mistakes, english is not my main language :P )

1. The "add to collection" feature is missing. Manually entering the URL (http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/addtocollection/######) works, but the resulting page is very ugly.
2. The "Save info" login checkbox no longer works on iPhone and iPad. Other non-Flash features still work, though.

2) I really like it, but I feel it should be placed on the right and featured content on the left. A bit of web design theory: the eye is naturally attracted to the right, so they're more likely to look there. IMO the categories are a more enticing way to look for stuff rather than throwing out, say, a random game.

3) Feeds? Excellent! I'm an avid user of Google Reader. However, I think I feed with everything in it would move too fast and spam my feed reader...

4) Not evaluating any new submissions... I think the all-in-one portal was better. I also liked the top 100 list which I think is a feature that will be much missed. Actually, most of the time I've spent on the site was playing/watching the stuff on the top 100. That should be included somehow.

MAJOR additional request; I'd much prefer featured Flash movies and games to have their descriptions on the front page... they really mean something, right now it could be an art mashup sir really.

Random thing: I've always had your domain whitelisted in Ghostery (after your ad banner called me an arsehole) but ads haven't shown up at all since the update. What's up with that?

"Friendship is like peeing on yourself; everyone can see it, but only you get the warm feeling that it brings."

1) Do you find yourself ignoring the big content showcase box here on the front page? I've been told it doesn't make enough of a "call to action" and while looking pretty, people aren't being as enticed to click it as they should be.

I do sorta ignore it. You should move the new and events column slightly down and extend the showcase box across the entire top of the page if you really want to attract visitors to click the showcase.

At 2 hours ago, NitrogenousBeing wrote:
Final note: I have seen several artists upload flashes of embedded youtube movies, animations they claim they couldn't fit swf format because of the program they used. The users attacked the guy with no star reviews for doing this. Is there an official stance on whether this is acceptable?

I'm always squeamish about content being hosted by a third party since pretty much all third parties have ceased to exist at some point over the years. That does seem unlikely with YouTube, but it's still an awkward trend - I don't want NG to feel like a second-tier dropspot for YouTube submissions. We'll be addressing this sort of issue.

You should let Newgrounders have input on this. My opinion is that it's a bad idea to allow it for several reasons:

1. It's entirely too easy to steal other people's work that way. All you have to do is embed a link. And it would be more difficult to catch, as it would be a NG username posting something from a Youtube username. As it is, we can go to a site to research if an item is stolen, cuz not everyone has a website, but anyone can load anything on Youtube anonymously. This makes it much more difficult to research and track.

2. If you allow Youtube embedding, you're going to get more people from youtube trying to post their stuff both here and there. You'll end up with videos of 8 year olds jumping on the bed, stupid dog tricks, and Joe falling into the pool. Now, as much as I like women driver videos (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv0HkM0XiBs), the influx of crap would be disasterous. After all, there's a reason we all spend our time HERE instead of THERE.

3. It gets too far from what Newgrounds was originally all about. Newgrounds was started so Flash authors could showcase their work. ...their FLASH work. If Youtube stuff was allowed, you might as well change the name to Yougrounds and seal Newgrounds away. What makes this site better than Youtube is that it IS selective about what gets on here. Also, we have the ability for people to post good things, and for us to blam the bad things (which people should do more often). I come here for animations and games, not for videos. If you allow embedding, you might get stuff like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ssxF8EaMO0&ob=av3e but you'll also get stuff like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q15fB7E28Zs And because there's no official stance that video is discouraged on Newgrounds, we get stuff like this: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/583494 or like this: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/588108 which is stolen and modified. I found the original but lost it before I could report it.

Hi Tom. Overall I prefer the new design - well done!! - but there are a couple of non-bug things that trouble me:

(a) I miss the detailed numerical game ratings and user stats being on the main game and user pages - the graphics for the stats are okay, but making the actual numbers easily visible alongside the graphics again, as per the old site design, would make things much better. And what are the new user level badges all about - the old ones were far better, and bigger and easier to see;

(b) Quickly put back in the Network user referral site-wide link - there currently seems to be no benefit to me or anyone else for referring our various sites in to NG. Or have I completely missed something very important???

As with any redesign or new version of an interface/software, there are always bugs. I myself have noticed that the medals don't update like they did in the old version of NGs. It seemed to me that the points take a day or so to retotal. As the days from the initial redesign have gone on, the bugs are getting better. Overall, this is one of the few redesigns I've like from the start. I liked to old one, but this one is much better.

Tom,
Let me say first, I love the redesign. The graphics are awesome, and the site looks cutting edge. I actually consult on website usability.
However, there is one thing you need to change about the re-design, something you MUST change or the number of users on the site will slowly be greatly damaged:
I, like every other Newgrounds user, appreciated the few sentences about the different games and movies on the home page of the old design. Why? Not for their humor, etc. but because games aren't adequately summarized in just a picture. The few sentences such as "Unique physics based tower defense game" in the old design was enough to tell users that if they like tower defense games, they should give it a try. In the new design, I see a pretty picture, but have no idea what type of game it is most of the time. You may think this makes users try more games, but in reality it makes impatient (all) users get pissed off and leave because they aren't going to wait to load and wait through the ads to realize its a third game that isn't the type they like to play.
Regards,
Tman